Is a picture worth a thousand words? Using films and television shows to teach public relations

While a number of studies have looked at the image of public relations practitioners as portrayed in films and other media, few if any of those studies have focused primarily on the pedagogical perspective of using films. Therefore, a benchmark international survey of public relations educators was undertaken to answer questions about how (or whether) to use films as a teaching tool. Among other things, the findings of the study shed light on how often PR instructors use films in the classroom; the value that films provide; why some professors decline to use them; which specific films and television shows are being used; and guidelines for utilizing movies and television programs as an effective pedagogical technique.     

Fan activism sustained and challenged: participatory culture in Chinese online translation communities

Henry Jenkins, in Convergence Culture, argues that “[p]opular culture may be preparing the way for a more meaningful public culture”. This article examines this argument in the context of online translation communities in China, which originated from fan groups interested in foreign comics, games, movies, and television dramas. Drawing on evidence collected through participant observation and 23 in-depth interviews, this article first reviews the historical development and the structural layout of such online translation communities. It then focuses on the motivations of their members to contribute to the translation tasks, which show that personal interests speak louder than collective goals. Finally, it analyzes how the collaboration structure, mindset of collaboration, skills, and sense of agency are transferred from translating entertainment content to civic education content (i.e. open courses). Participatory culture fostered through fan activities is found to be transferred into civic engagement; however, the transfer between fan activism and political participation is yet to be seen.     

From I Love Lucy in Connecticut to Desperate Housewives’ Wisteria Lane: Suburban TV Shows, 1950-2007

The majority of Americans now live in suburbs, and a number of scholars have highlighted how various pop culture objects, from novels to television shows, have either reflected or encouraged suburban life. An analysis of the top 30 Nielsen-rated television shows from 1950 to 2007, a period of both rapid suburbanization and television growth, reveals that suburban TV shows did not dominate popular television. There is slightly more evidence for reflection theory with more sets of seasons with higher numbers of suburban-set shows following decades of rapid suburban growth. Additionally, the number of suburban-set shows was also influenced by the popularity of the genres of sitcoms and dramas. These findings suggest a need for further research into why relatively few popular shows were set in suburbs compared to big cities and how viewing settings on television directly influences suburban aspirations and behavior.     

Gender inequality in culture industries: Women and men writers in film and television

This article discusses how employment practices concerning writers of film and television contribute to gender inequality and the glass ceiling in Hollywood. Relying on historical evidence about the industries of film and television and quantitative data from analyses of the employment and membership records of the Writers Guild of America, West, the union for film and television writers in Hollywood, this article presents an overview of the industry's historical transformation from hierarchy to market in order to understand the nature of Hollywood's employment relation. It then examines how the dynamics associated with the participation of women writers contribute to particular forms of gender inequality in film and television. The conclusion considers why proven remedies for minimizing gender inequality are so difficult to achieve in the culture industry of Hollywood.     

Sampling Television Programs for Content Analysis of Sex on TV: How Many Episodes are Enough?

Content analysis is widely used to analyze sexual themes and messages on television. Although researchers generally use a sampling procedure to identify programs for analysis, there is currently no gold standard for the number of episodes needed to establish a valid, representative sample. This study sought to explore how many episodes of weekly television programs should be examined for an accurate assessment of sexual content present throughout the season. Various sampling strategies were used to select episodes from programs that ran in the 1998–1999 season, and results were compared with data collected from all episodes of these programs to test representativeness. Findings suggest that to provide a representative assessment of sexual content on television programs for behavior-level variables, a random sample of five episodes of weekly television programs is sufficient, while three episodes may be acceptable if variation is minimal. A random sample of seven episodes is needed for character-based analyses.     

Sampling television programs for content analysis of sex on TV: how many episodes are enough?

Content analysis is widely used to analyze sexual themes and messages on television. Although researchers generally use a sampling procedure to identify programs for analysis, there is currently no gold standard for the number of episodes needed to establish a valid, representative sample. This study sought to explore how many episodes of weekly television programs should be examined for an accurate assessment of sexual content present throughout the season. Various sampling strategies were used to select episodes from programs that ran in the 1998-1999 season, and results were compared with data collected from all episodes of these programs to test representativeness. Findings suggest that to provide a representative assessment of sexual content on television programs for behavior-level variables, a random sample of five episodes of weekly television programs is sufficient, while three episodes may be acceptable if variation is minimal. A random sample of seven episodes is needed for character-based analyses.     

Utilizing The Wire to Teach about Justice-Oriented Citizenship

“Charm City: Down to The Wire?” is the title of an elective class developed by Sarah Taylor, a teacher at a private school in Baltimore. In the class, students explore their city and social justice issues from a framework that correlates to Westheimer and Kahne's (2004) concept of justice-oriented citizenship. Not only do students analyze problems depicted so vividly in the television series The Wire, they investigate and problem-solve to create possible solutions for enduring problems that afflict their city. This study considers the connection of class activities to justice-oriented citizenship and how the course can be replicated in other communities.     

Balls Enough: Manliness and Legitimated Violence in Hell's Kitchen

This article presents one example of how masculinity and hierarchy are exercised through violence in organizations. It draws on the empirical data of 15 episodes from the US reality television series Hell's Kitchen, in which 15 cooks compete for the job of Chef in one of celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay's restaurants. Ramsay's task is to lead the cooks towards a hegemonic masculinity valid in the restaurant context. An important feature is the contestant's ability to deal with Ramsay's fiery temper and fits of rage. The winner is the person who succeeds in approaching Ramsay's standards in terms of culinary art and leadership qualities, which in his terminology is referred to as manliness. Ramsay's aggressive style of management is possible to recognize, explain and to a certain extent justify as a way of running a restaurant. But what if his tongue‐lashings are to be understood, not as a possible way to train skilled chefs, but instead are called violence? Gender‐oriented organizational studies stress the importance of paying attention to acts of violence in organizations rather than disregarding it as organizational culture or tradition. Using concepts and perspectives from masculinity theory and feminist studies on men's violence against women, the purpose of this article is to analyse the micro practices of how masculinity and hierarchy are exercised through violence in the restaurant environment. As will be argued, reality television can be understood, not so much as a reflection but rather as an exaggeration of real life. It can be seen as a distorting mirror that enlarges and at the same time perverts the micro practices of reality. The aim is dual; to investigate the link between masculinity and legitimated violence in organizations and to give prominence to the potential of reality television visualizing the normalization of violence in organizations.     

Media advocates,Latino citizens and niche cable The limits of ‘no limits’ TV

In Shot in America, Chon Noriega calls for the study of media activism’s work ‘within the system’ of state institutions and for analysis of the relationships between media activism, the television industry and government policies. This article uses a cultural policy studies focus to answer this call and map the deregulated terrain upon which media advocacy groups must now operate. Liberal governance demands that media advocates find means other than state-directed appeals to advance their agendas. As such, this essay examines the efforts of several Latino advocacy groups to garner viewer support for a Latino-themed cable television show, Resurrection Boulevard, and to use the series as a vehicle for increased Latino participation in the television industry. This article focuses on the issue of access for Latinos to professional positions that affect television programming, and it presents tools for advocacy efforts within political spheres to achieve more socially equitable access to media technologies. First, the paper traces the regulatory history of the broadcasting and cable television industries to show how the federal government narrowly conceives of ‘the public interest’ as a specifically consumerist one. The article then analyses the structures that led to cable television’s ‘narrowcasting’ format, such as Showtime’s ‘No Limits’ programming, and argues that liberalism has created a context wherein several media advocates normalise the ‘citizen-consumer’ model. Having established this groundwork, the author then conducts a case study of the economic and social forces that shape Resurrection Boulevard, which is written, produced and acted by Latinos. Through this study, the author maintains that advocacy groups’ consumer-based appeals to Latinos as ‘citizen-consumers’ fail to serve as effective instruments for achieving increased minority representation in the television industry.     

Leaning Out: Exploring Organizational Advocacy Activities From an Open Systems Perspective

This article explores the effect of organizational culture on engagement with advocacy activities, both traditional and electronic. The Competing Values Framework offers a model for understanding how organizations’ culture influences behavior. Using a sample of nonprofit providers from across the country, the author hypothesized that organizations that use electronic advocacy tools are more involved with advocacy activities of all types. A paper and pencil survey was used to collect data on organizational culture, advocacy tools and techniques, perceived effectiveness of the advocacy tools, policy goals, organizational sustainability goals as well as barriers and facilitators of electronic advocacy. The study used path modeling to describe the connections between organizational culture and engagement in advocacy activities. The article examines the barriers and facilitators of electronic advocacy, the penetration of electronic advocacy use in this sample of agencies and the perceptions of effectiveness associated with using these strategies; lastly, the implications of these findings for managers and organizational leaders are discussed.     

Almost Like a Real Band: Navigating a Gendered Jazz Art World

Professional jazz has been organized around two contradictory cultures. Historically, the jazz art world has followed norms of meritocracy, which promote equality across boundaries of race and class. At the same time a culture of exclusivity, anchored in gendered essentialism, has severely limited female participation. By analyzing interview data with artists from the Hamilton College Jazz Archive, we illustrate how these contradictory cultures of inclusion and exclusion operate to channel women into feminized roles in the jazz world. We then discuss how women employ a number of strategies to work around the culture of exclusivity and capitalize on the norms and values of musical meritocracy. Despite institutional openings in professional jazz that emerged following the women’s movement, female jazz artists continue to face strong barriers toward full equality in the jazz world. Although female artists consistently demonstrate that they possess equal musical skills to male musicians according to the norms of meritocracy that guide professional jazz, women remain on the margins of the jazz art world.     

THE IMMORTAL COSMOPOLITAN

The 1990s, internationally co-produced, television series Highlander was an early, successful example of everyday television produced under the pressures of negotiating the dictates of internationally conceived agreements concerning culture, representation, finance, and circulation. This essay parallels an institutional analysis of the series with a textual analysis of its fictive world and characters to examine the series’ attempts to elide the structural conditions and textual constraints underwriting its existence. To do so, the essay teases out the intricacies and implications of a new take on the colonial-era fantasy of cosmopolitan existence embraced by the series and embodied by the program's hero. It argues that this immortal cosmopolitanism offers a means for understanding the series as characteristic of transformations in the practice of transnational television production and circulation as a response to the globalization of neo-liberal economies. The machinations behind what gets displayed on screens around the world reveal a great deal about the substance of the global circulation of culture. At the same time, the text itself negotiated the pressures of attempting to appear constantly local and amenable as it traveled around the world. Highlander is significant for the specific ways in which it negotiated these pressures, revealing something of an allegorical take on its own existence as it imagined a hero that was relevant and interesting to globally-dispersed audiences in the 1990s: the immortal cosmopolitan.     

The coping model: what is it and what might be its implications for social work practice?

This article examines whether a coping model developed as a framework for analysis of research interviews is useful in social work practice. The coping model emerged from a study involving qualitative interviews with social service clients in Norway, designed to explore how they coped with challenges in everyday lives, both on an individual level and in interacting with their environment. The model emerged from preliminary analysis and was then used in further analysis of the interview data. The study showed that the informants experienced two major challenges: (1) Unemployment and (2) living with a shortage of money over time, even though their life situations were heterogeneous. Some informants experienced potent coping strategies in finding employment and became independent of social services. Other informants experienced shortages in their capacities for work and continued to be dependent on allowances. They used their coping resources to achieve more meaningful life situations without employment. The coping model represents how coping is understood theoretically in the study and the present paper considers the model's relevance and implications for social work practice itself.     

Leadership education for English language learners as transformative pedagogy

This qualitative case study investigates the transformative power of a leadership course designed for immigrant secondary school students learning English as an additional language with a social justice orientation. Course projects allowed the students to get involved in tutoring, present at a conference on intercultural education, deliver equity presentations and role model presentation skills for their peers by discussing topics such as Canadian culture, showcase their talents from their L1 cultures and give advice on how to integrate into the school and to lead activities to create school spirit by sharing music from their culture, running a ‘thank your teacher’ campaign, or taking the lead with an international humanitarian cause. The teacher’s plans and notes, course assignments, video footage of students presenting a conference workshop and monthly feedback forms were the data that allowed us to understand how transformative pedagogy was enacted by the teacher and experienced by the students in one Canadian secondary school with a very diverse student population.     

MEDIA LOGIC AND SOCIAL INTERACTION

Media logic and formats associated with television programming are shown to contribute to our understanding of the role of reflexive communication in defining a situation, and suggest the relevance of a theory of mediation for clarifying how an agent's communication products can influence the time, place, and manner of activities for us all. Social rules informed by conventional temporal and spatial considerations can be transformed through electronic content and formats. Viewers obtain information from mass media content that can transcend conventional personal experience (e.g., a 10-year-old child can learn how to be a teenager in 1940 or 1990). Materials illustrate how media logic and formats compatible with popular culture increasingly guide the form, content, and scheduling of social interaction. By the same token, certain kinds of experience are recognized for their mediated characteristics (e.g., rhythm, pacing, syntax, and grammar). As these patterns are incorporated into other realms of social life, temporal and spatial features of organized activities will embody the new formats. Viewing mass mediation from this perspective can illuminate a path for development of a theoretic understanding of mediation throughout social life.     

The Medium Is the Danger: Discourse about Television among Amish and Ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) Women

This study shows how Old Order Amish and ultra-Orthodox women’s discourse about television can help develop a better understanding of the creation, construction, and strengthening of limits and boundaries separating enclave cultures from the world. Based on questionnaires containing both closed- and open-ended questions completed by 82 participants, approximately half from each community, I argue that both communities can be understood as interpretive communities that negatively interpret not only television content, like other religious communities, but also the medium itself. Their various negative interpretive strategies is discussed and the article shows how they are part of an “us-versus-them” attitude created to mark the boundaries and walls that enclave cultures build around themselves. The comparison between the two communities found only a few small differences but one marked similarity: The communities perceive avoidance of a tool for communication, in this case television, as part of the communities’ sharing, participation, and common culture.